


So long lives this, and this gives life to thee

by Superpeace



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, Falling In Love Again, First Dates, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Memoirs, Past Character Death, Regret, Reincarnation, Royal guards - Freeform, Supportive Shankar Tripathi, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24144511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superpeace/pseuds/Superpeace
Summary: Fate (literally) bumps into you when you least expect it. A person's whose whole life is built on plans may stagger after their encounter with fate. But the people who love always hug fate with open arms, even if it pushes them down.
Relationships: Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 32
Kudos: 46





	1. Coincidence? I think not.

Karam Rathore and Abishek Mathur, the story of these two men has been penned down as one of the most remarkable friendships in history. So much so that they have thousands of books written about them and their bravery. Their chronicles have been told down generation by generation to make the kids know the importance of true friendship and how life is meaningless without it.

But Kartik Singh, bachelor in history at University of Delhi, currently researching for the materials for his thesis, would object to this. He’s on his 5 th cup of coffee, in the library since 9 am, going through each and every book, in his defense there are a lot, on the topic that the library had to offer. He thought it was a piece of cake, the topic he chose was seemingly easy; the Rathore-Mathur history and accomplishments, he just had to gather material hopefully within a month, and be on his way to a party.

But Alas! The more he read through it, the more contradictory the text was, in some it was said they were warriors, in some they were princes, and hilariously enough in some they were even part of a gang like situation. In some they were betrothed; not to each other of course and couldn’t make it to the marriage, in some they were even married, hell Kartik saw in one book that Abishek was married to his cousin, Ew, what do people think before they write, but history is filled these sorts of weird occurrences.

Kartik could go through all of these except the elephant in the room, that these men aren’t just friends. Kartik read the letters exchanged between them, and he’s not an honorary member of the LGBTQ+ society (although unofficial but that never stopped him) at his university and an out and proud gay man to not notice the feelings of love and yearning between the two men.

It’s not just in the texts, it’s also in their lives, how could historians write it out first and then try to hetero-fiy it at the end, it is a mystery to him. In his little tired gay brain, their story interesting, politics and war shit not so much.

There’s also the thing that like Shehzada Salim-Anarkali, Bajirao-Mastani, Mirza-Sahiba, it ended in tragedy. It was not like one died and the second person followed suit, one person did die and the other one presumably lived through old age writing countless memoirs about their journey and untimely end.

Unfortunately those too might have been changed by the historians as with the track record going on here; Karam Rathore would’ve written full-fledged love letters for them to be masked for the mainly straight and homophobic audience. Kartik knows how much time he spent thinking about them instead of working, it’s not his fault that he is a born romantic who sees more than what’s written.

Even sometimes when he can’t sleep at night, he googles to find anything, literally anything that verifies his thoughts but as expected he ends up empty handed. He scrolls through his twitter; sometimes rant about college and how he has only four hours to sleep, and then sleeps when the birds start chirping.

He looks at his phone to see it's 5 pm already, and like a pavlov’s dog, his stomach starts to rumble. He sees this as a sign to go to the cafeteria, appease the monster, and head straight to the dorms.

The thing about today’s generation, especially students is that they cannot live without their phones, even when they’re walking in the premises of their institute. But what no one points out that they could be out there reading messages from their professor, scrolling through their heavily spammed and eternally muted class group chat for information, or listing their tasks for tomorrow, there could be hundreds of possibilities for one to be on their phone while strolling and bumping into someone and unfortunately Aman Tripathi doesn’t care about who he bumped into, why? Because he wants to go to his home and nap before he has to get up and prepare for his test.

He’s positively annoyed after a long day mainly because he had to take the extra lab period the reason being that the professor’s wife’s labor was due next week and he couldn’t be here. Aman isn’t insensitive, he really isn’t but can you blame him after back to back classes since morning, he’s really contemplating his existence.

So when he hears the guy he accidentally bumped into say, “Oiii, can’t you see where you are going?”

“No, can you?”, Aman replies disinterestedly .

“You bumped into me first.” Kartik retorts.

“You could’ve dodged it” Aman tilts his head, he’s had enough of this but a part of him wants to let out his annoyance on this poor stranger.

“Is this the best you’ve got?” Kartik slyly remarks.

“Should I apologize to you then?” Aman raises his eyebrow, he just bumped into this guy, let him go, he does not have enough energy for this.

Kartik can’t believe the nerve of this man, first he bumped into him and now he’s being sassy, if it were someone else they might have grabbed him by the collar or worse punched him, but Kartik isn’t someone else, also he’s damn hungry so he’ll let this man go, but not without a price.

“Only apologizing won’t suffice, you weren’t paying attention, if it were someone else, a teacher perhaps, would they have let you go this easily?” Kartik inquires; his friends don’t call him “zyada” for nothing.

“Then what, should I dance?” Aman's patience is running low, and he could deal with someone else rather than this sticky man.

“None of that, believe me seeing you dance wouldn’t be really worth my time, it would be funny nonetheless “ Kartik winks, he can see the other man barely keeping it together. A laugh threatens to come out of Kartik’s lips but he tries his hardest to keep it in control.

“I don’t have enough time for this idiocy, say what do you want?” Aman sighs.

“Nothing too big, just treat me in the cafeteria and I’ll call it even” Kartik proposes, he’s not a bully but only he knows how many times he has procured treats from naïve freshers or even experienced students, that’s the Singh’s charm and it is impossible not to fall for it.

“Okay, should we go now?” At least I’ll get rid of you soon, is what Aman doesn’t speak out loud but really wants to let go of his so called decency.

“Nuh- huh what’s the fun in that, I’ll choose the time and place, and you give me your number.” Kartik puts his hand forward to take Aman’s number.

“And why would I do that? You want a treat, let’s go now.” Aman frowns, he already has 10 contacts in his phone, he’s not gonna disrupt the even balance.

“I’ll delete it as soon as we get it over with, don’t you worry, and right now I’ll eat anything that’s in front of me so if you want to empty your wallet let’s go” Kartik beams at Aman.

Aman gives Kartik his phone, ”Here, put your number” . He takes it back and mumbles the name ‘Kartik Singh’ before dialing the number.

“Save it with the name Aman Tripathi, bye” Aman instructs him before going towards the parking lot and leaving Kartik transfixed there, he, Kartik Singh was talking to the botany professor’s son and physics genius Aman Tripathi who may or may not snitch on him and have him suspended before morning.

Kartik is fucked, and for the first time it’s not the sexy type.

On one fine day, when he is basking in the Sun with his friends, Kartik gets a message from Aman. If it were a normal case Kartik would’ve already bombarded the poor soul with messages and would also have gotten his treat somewhere around last week, but Kartik doesn’t want to dangle meat in front of a hungry lion, thank you very much.

So when he receives the message, he chokes on his sprite to which his friends laugh at him. One of his friends, Devika asks if he got a message from someone special, to which they all laugh again instead of waiting to get his reply.

Kartik ignores them and opens the message that read “ _ Don’t you want the treat man?”,  _ to which he replies with a curt ‘yes’. He didn’t think that he would be contacted by Aman, as the reputation precedes the man and not gonna lie, Kartik secretly wanted for Aman to forget about him, he doesn’t really go along with people with a perpetual stick up their ass.

But if he’s going to ignore or delay, he’s gonna rip the proverbial band aid and ask when.

He gets a reply from Aman almost instantly, “Why not now, I’m free and sitting in the cafe but if you’re not then okay, some other time I guess”.

Kartik types a quick reply to tell Aman he’s gonna be there and excuses himself from his friends now talking about their non existent love life.

He goes to the cafeteria to find Aman sitting alone at one of the tables and joins him.

If there’s one thing that bugs Aman the most, is to owe anyone anything. Even if that guy, Kartik forgot about the deal Aman couldn’t. 

After Kartik sits in front of him, they awkwardly exchange pleasantries, and then Kartik asks about the treat cause that’s why he’s here for, isn’t it.

To which Aman replies,“Calm down, will you? I didn’t call you just for funsies, believe me I also do not want to delay it as much as you do.”

“Why? Already tired of my ass?” Kartik smugly winks.

“Wha-, no I don’t even know you to be tired of you for that matter” Aman was caught off guard by Kartik’s wink at first, but he willed himself to think with his brain not other body parts.

“Well okay, here I thought you knew about me already” Kartik ponders.

“Why do I have to know about you? Are you famous in here or something, sorry man I don’t even know your major and I got to know about you after we bumped, which by the way I apologize for being rude that day, I had to take back to back classes and clearly my mind wasn’t in place, I’m not usually like this.” Aman smiles, he really didn’t mean for an apology to come from his mouth but his parents had raised him as a big softie despite his outer appearance.

“You don’t? Hi I’m Kartik Singh, History major, Students favorite and Teachers nightmare, nice to meet you” Kartik forwards his hand for a handshake.

Aman took Kartik’s hand and he have to swear on his textbooks that his hand started to tingle and a wave of dopamine rushes through his body like fireworks, he did tone his reaction down and succeeded in maintaining his calm, “and I’m Aman Tripathi, Biophysics major and I still don’t know why do you think that I should know you?”

“Didn’t your father tell you about me?” Kartik inquires.

“Why-, why would he? Oh I get it now, you believe the rumors, well let me tell you Kartik, Sir Shankar and I live quite normal lives after school, we don’t conspire against you poor students, and despite my reputation I don’t snitch on y’all to my father.” Aman recites the whole thing that he has said on several instances, it’s like a part of his introduction now.

“So I was worrying that I’d get called to the staff building for literally no reason, oops I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but no offense this is all that we have heard”, and Kartik had the audacity to giggle instead of being embarrassed.

“I really don’t get you guys honestly. Anyways we were here for the treat not to clean the dirt my name, so what do you want Kartik?” Aman asks, unaware of what his question might sound like.

“You are really talking my talk right now, lemme order something okay”, Kartik heard the question in the context it wasn’t meant to be, but as is the thing in India, that people talk like this without thinking so he didn’t pay much attention to it.

Both of them order for themselves, and come back to the tables waiting for their food to be prepared.

“So Aman, I’m not trying to pry or judge but why were you sitting here alone?” Kartik thought that a person like Aman, not as much of an asshole as that day, well Kartik was also snappy that day too, but let’s not talk about that, shall we.

“As you’d have already noticed, I’m not much of a people’s person, and what little affinity I have for friends, my name reaches them before I do, not that I’m complaining though”. Aman is perfectly fine with how things are going, just one more year in here and he’ll be free.

“Oh, now that’s unacceptable, you’re with Kartik Singh and alone in cafeteria , I won’t allow this to happen with my friend” Kartik stands up as if he’s giving a speech at which Aman laughs, ”Not to break your bubble, I’m not your friend though”

“You soon will be”, Kartik gets closer to Aman and smiles at him.

“Is that a threat or a promise?”, Aman questions.

“Whatever you’ll take it as”, Kartik replies, not moving an inch away for quite a while.

“Okay, okay I’ll be your friend, at least sit down properly, people are watching, and look they’re coming with our food.” Aman pushes the man back to his seat.

Both of them talk more than complete their food, finding that they hit it off quite well. Both of them love Bollywood for starters, especially the romantic movies, bike rides; Kartik gets super excited that Aman has a bike despite it being passed down by his father, and the cardamom tea from the stall outside their university.

They’re not friends albeit very good acquaintances when they part, but as the days go and with them constantly messaging each other resulting in night long conversation , friendship comes easily.


	2. Getting pulled towards you

Not getting enough of each other only through messages, Kartik and Aman meet each other quite often, sometimes accidentally and sometimes not. Every time they meet, they don’t end with just a simple hi, but start talking and finding it difficult to stop.

Even Kartik’s friends have accepted their friend’s betrayal so instead of kicking him out, they added Aman in their group despite some initial concerns. And now Aman has more friends than he ever imagined, and being the nice guy he is, is more or less of a tutor to them and he finds that he quite likes it.

What Kartik misinterprets when Aman starts being with people other than him, is that he’s busy or found better people to surround himself with. It is quite the opposite honestly, it’s just that Aman doesn’t have friendly feelings for Kartik anymore; they’ve evolved into something more, and despite knowing Kartik’s sexual orientation and being quite comfortable with his own, he’s too chicken to come out and confess.

So instead he calls his cousin Rajni and tells her about it, not to his surprise her laugh was loud enough to rupture his eardrums, so as always he kept his phone away from his ears.

“Pray tell what do you find so funny?” She has been laughing for a good 3 minutes and Aman had enough of it.

“Well my baby brother has a crush right now that he won’t confess to, that too after bumping and being an ass to him, isn’t it perfect for a movie plot? Don’t you think Aman, I’ll have to make something on this for sure.” Rajni speaks; the aftereffects of her hyena laugh still evident in her speech.

“Are you done making fun of the situation I’m in, it’s no laughing matter I’ll tell you” Aman quips.

“Okay, okay, I won’t tease you anymore. What are you going to do, avoid him until one of you pulls their head out of their ass, or make him misunderstand your intentions, hmm” Rajni can’t believe that she always has to be the voice of reason in the Tripathi household, the whole family has a single braincell and she’s the proud owner.

“Oh I didn’t think of that, this way I’m neglecting our friendship, but Rajni even his friends point out the obvious ‘ _ sexual tension’ _ between us, how long will I be able to hide this, and for all I know what if I’m not his type, what if he thinks I’m too stuck up, I mean you haven’t seen him but he’s all that and so much more yknow” Aman sighs dreamily.

“You’ve gone too far comrade; even I won’t be able to save you now. As for him, it’s better to come clean to him than to make him think that you just became his friend to move on or something, which by the way is so not you.” Rajni advises.

“Uuuh I messaged him by accident”, Aman panics.

“What do you mean by accident?” Rajni asks incredulously.

“You were talking about how I should come clear, so my hand just moved, what do I do now Rajni?" Go off Aman, you big fool.

“Wait for his reply I guess, and  **don’t fuck it up** , till next time bro” Rajni ends the call before Aman could lament his impulsive actions more. She has a lot on her plate already than to be a love guru.

Kartik opens his eyes groggily because of the ping. Who dared to wake him up after he specified countless times that he’s gonna sleep this weekend, Kartik’s gonna go full-on zombie mode on this person. But one look at the name converts him back to a human. Of course Aman didn’t know about that, he was too busy teaching his friends how muscles work and Kartik didn’t bother telling him. The message was simple ‘Hi! You up?’ with a heart emoticon, what the fuck man, you don’t play with Kartik’s heart right when he woke up.

Okay Kartik admits that one of the reasons Aman got away from him was because of his crush on the other man. He must’ve been weirded out by how much Kartik stuck to him all those times. Kartik didn’t mean to do that, not really but Aman is just so huggable and his flaming gay ass can’t help it.

**Aman T:**

Hi! You up?

**Kartik S:**

Yes I am now

**Aman T:**

Were you sleeping? Oh you were, I didn’t remember smh.

**Kartik S:**

It’s okay J Is there smth I can help u wit?

**Aman T:**

No, I just wanted to check up on you, I’ll excuse myhself

**Kartik S:**

Okaaaaaaaaaay I believe you. now seriously tell me what’s going on in that galaxy brain of yours aman.

**Aman T:**

I miss us.

**Kartik S:**

I miss us too. Wayamin are you drunk????? It’d be so embarrassing

**Aman T:**

No Kartik I’m not drunk and whats wrong in missing us huh. Don’t you invalidate my feelings

**Kartik S:**

What feelings? Love-love? Jk jk unless ;)

**Aman T:**

Don’t joke please I’ll start laughing. Anyways what I’M saying is that we should hang out soon yknow alsoihaveacrushonyou

_ >>>Message deleted _

**Kartik S:**

I already saw it.

Also I LIKE YOU TOO

Aman?

AMAN

Bhaag gaya (ran away?)

Aman wants to turn his phone off, throw it in a lake, and start living in the forest. Why? The answer is simple; he has made a fool of himself again. Why did he have to confess to Kartik, that too in a message.

Sure he likes Kartik, and it’s not just his looks, his nose ring that no one cares about despite being against the dress code and Aman’s sanity, or the tattoo on his bicep that he has to hide by layering his clothes but it still peeks out, yes all of these has affected Aman positively.

But the thing that has him spellbound is when Kartik laughs, it’s loud, energetic and reverberates and Aman so want to hear and be the one to make him laugh, and when Kartik gets closer and puts his head on Aman’s shoulder without prior notice in the middle of a conversation and it fills Aman’s heart with so much emotion that he stops. Or when Kartik keeps Aman in conversation and knows to stop when Aman’s social battery has depleted. So being near this 5.8 ball of energy and fluff even as a friend is something Aman doesn’t wanna lose.

But like the intellectual he is, he did the complete opposite, and before he thinks of all the bad things that could happen, a voice in his head suspiciously sounding like someone asks him to breathe and calm down. So he does absolutely that and checks his phone again to see messages from Kartik that he feels the same, so Aman, not trying to sound too eager, sends a ‘That’s good’ with a heart emoticon again.

Fast forward to everyone’s favorite day of the week; Monday and every Monday ‘The Walking Dead’ starts at sharp 8:30 am. Kartik is not immune to the evil of morning classes, but the power of requited crush is more than the power of anime and god with you. So Kartik now high on his newfound discovery that the guy he likes, likes him back is especially chipper today.

His friend Pritam asks him to shut the hell up, and he just giggles like a schoolgirl in response. What is he so happy about actually? His friends speculate about what is so exciting in his life that he’s loaded on crack today.

By noon, they obtain the information out of him, and to their delight finally one of their friends isn’t going to be single anymore.

It’s Kartik’s last year here and nothing is really stopping him except a few classes and the big ol’ thesis that is a boulder in his way to freedom, and the faster he works on it, the quicker he’ll be out and doing taxes.

Not so fun, but he can at least be over with this degree. You’d think he would be regretting choosing History over something that is stereotypically paired with him, yet he is not. He remembers picking a book about historical sites from the local bookstore and immediately falling in love with it thinking that if he’s going to do something, it has to be this.

But love and passion on their own, when he has to painstakingly find research materials from every corner of the world, and prepare for this, he doesn’t like it one bit. It’s 2 pm Tuesday and he’s in the library doing such. He was just with Aman until he had to go for class leaving Kartik alone to miss him.

So with a productivity high, he gets onto his work. What he finds today and has to work on is the untimely demise of Abishek Mathur. There’s not a whole lot of an article or journals that can paint a clear picture of it but just his death left his family in sorrow, so much so that one of his cousins, named his kid after Abishek. It has been alluded in many books that he was the favorite of his family, maybe because of the status of the father as the eldest brother and head of the house, or maybe because of his personality or accomplishments that made him the apple of the family’s eye.

He lived a remarkable life as a royal guard and died serving the country, his services were honored by the King himself, and his family was selected as nobles after his death. It was all the usual blah blah, yet two hours into his intensive research Kartik finally finds an authentic source after deeply diving into the library.

The book in question was hidden deep, with layers of dust on its surface, but all in all in good condition. After blowing the dirt and cobwebs away and cleaning with a wipe, Kartik finally sits to read the book actually written by Karam Rathore.

Kartik’s not feeling too different from the person who just struck gold in a coal mine, because by using only this book, he can cite actual sources and nearly half of his thesis would be complete. The only thing that’ll slow down his process is that this is actually written in Hindi and is most probably the actual text, so he has to take the time to translate it and work on it.

Like anyone from the 21st century, he immediately googles the title; discovers that this book is real, but there’s no translated pdf version of it in the online libraries his university has access to.

Call it a coincidence or fate, but Kartik Singh found this book; that too in his library is too good of any of that. He gets happy but the more he reads through the specific sections about Abishek’s death; which this memoir is mottled with, the more the ever-present smile diminishes from his face.

It was stated that Karam was informed by the deceased’s cousin about the news, and on hearing about it a part of Karam had died too. He doesn’t believe it at first, because there were not many chances that it would end like that, as Abishek has promised that he would come back with a gilded turquoise dagger for Karam in his letters. Abishek found it to be encapsulating Karam’s personality in this dagger and called it as a perfect ornament that will accompany Karam everywhere, in his letters.

It wasn’t just a gift, it was a form of hope that Abhishek would return just like they always do, whenever they had to separate, they tell the other about a gift they had selected for the other; it has always been a vow that they’d see each other again. To think that Abishek is not returning, not in a week or a year, Karam can’t still wrap his mind over it.

In a few days after the body is found, Karam is invited to the funeral both as a fellow royal guard and a friend. He kept himself intact during all that, but when he wasn’t allowed to go near or see Abishek, due to him not having any family relations with him, Karam snapped and the dam broke.

He writes about feeling helpless, that if he could, he would change the laws because family isn’t only the ones related to you by blood, they could also be the ones that stuck with you through thick and thin, but the world isn’t there yet to understand this.

On returning home, a red-eyed Karam opens the container where he keeps his mead, that was supposed to be opened as a celebration of when Abishek comes back but is chugged straight from the bottle by Karam until he falls on his butt and deep into the memory lane.


	3. Through the looking glass

Karamveer Rathore is 17 years old when he has to enlist for the position of the royal guard to ease his old man’s worries of paying their loans. After the death of his mother, his father, despite wanting to work and provide for his son, got into gambling and drinking, as if it didn’t even matter that Karam was there. But Karam still remembers his father that made him a wooden horse when he was young, even if the other one has forgotten about his existence altogether.

Karam knows the love that his father had for his mother and vice versa, and why would anyone be so devastated as to throw away their will to live after the departure of their loved one instead of moving on and live for what they still have, is something Karam doesn’t understand. Maybe it’s because he’s too young to understand what his mother would say and to him she says the absolute truth.

The day when he has to finally leave the house, he finds his father smiling and saying that he’s proud to have Karam as his son. To see the same father who he has a stranded relationship and who hasn’t smiled once in all these years is a surprise to Karam but he keeps the questions to himself knowing fully he won’t be able to get the answers to them.

He reaches the scouting grounds, passes the test and is formally enlisted as a trainee for the royal guards. There are many others, from all classes, here having the dreams of a bright future in their eyes, but Karam cynically thinks that they’re bound as puppets to the royals to use them as they’d fancy.

Karam knows enough retired guards and seen enough crestfallen faces to know how the end is like, even if you’re physically safe, there’s no way in hell you’re going to be the same mentally.

Karam has always envisioned himself as a free spirit, never surrendering to the worldly confines but here’s where familial bonds come into play and now he finds himself training day in and day out. The only solace he and his peers get is to gather around the bonfire and share their stories at night.

One of such peers that have become his constant training partner, in all these months of him staying here is Abishek Mathur. Karam finds him as one of the few people he can resonate with; for starters both of them didn’t join on their accords, both of them don’t shy away from talking about the irony of their lives rather than live in the dream that they’d be appreciated for this, and the way Abishek makes a friend of anyone he meets instantly.

To think that Karam was approached by Abishek first is a miracle in itself. Karam is not an introvert by any means; rather he chooses the people to surround himself with. He has a few friends back home whom he exchanges letters with from time to time. They were good people but he had to leave them and there are times when he misses them and his home, so he joins the people here and he distracts himself by the life stories told by them.

The thing about time is it passes in the blink of an eye and not long after their training, Karam saw things that he wouldn’t wish on anyone. It was their troop’s first battle, a small conflict on the border, and they came out of that with the flag of victory in their hands but it wasn’t evident on their faces.

How could it be, when the weight of the bodies was heavy on their young hands, and the scent of blood that permeated deep into the soul would never be masked by any fragrance of this world. Hilariously enough this was a trial, to pick the ones capable enough to serve the royals. Did their life bore no meaning, was the 16 years old bright-eyed Rajiv’s life, who only wanted to make his sister proud, that worthless? Did his dreams, his aspirations mean nothing to them?

Karam couldn’t look at the poor boy’s face, so marred yet still shining after death. Just the thought that someone had to take his body back to his sister, the same sister whom Rajiv loved so much that he used to sing praises about her; and on the other side the tear marks on the letters sent to Rajiv was enough proof of her love.

Rajiv’s screams were what woke Karam one day, sweating and out of breath. Remembering that two months have passed since then; he manages to calm his beating heart and goes out for some fresh air, only to find Abishek standing with his back supported on a tree in the quarters of the palace.

Karam sneaks up to him only to have a dagger right on his jugular. “Who are you and why are you here?” Abishek questions and only then Kartik realizes that they’re in complete darkness with the only light source being the moon and stars.

He raises his hands in surrender and identifies the person who’s thinking of 99 ways to kill him right here and right now. Abishek’s hand backtracks the second the stranger introduces him, these days he’s so on edge that he gets alerted by even the smallest sounds. It doesn’t help that he hasn’t been able to sleep well these days, well he blames the weather for being too hot these days, but he usually comes here to cool himself down in the night air.

“Can’t sleep?”, Abishek asks Karam who is too busy looking at him. “No, just woke up. What about you, you never used to stay up late, everything’s okay right?” Karam worries that Abishek might be going through something similar after losing his buddy Manav to an infection not long after the horror they all went through.

“Of course why wouldn’t it be? it was too hot so I came outside” Abishek didn’t like the way Karam asked if everything was fine with him, it made him feel bare in front of Karam’s attentive eyes.

In these two years, Abishek didn’t realize how close he and Karam had become. From something so small as playful bickering or fighting over food to telling each other about their life and even their feelings. So it is not an exaggeration to say that they know each other inside out. Their friendship is not just for namesake, if they were to sacrifice their life so the other would be saved, they would do it in an instant.

For Abishek, who has always been given love from his huge family and he loves them in return, he certainly has so much love to give, so is his amicable nature. But he feels different for Karam, something he can’t explain, its love but at the same time, it’s not. He wouldn’t let Karam win during their sparring or share his clothes with him, but stay all night long beside Karam when he’s sick. It’s conflicting but the only time the thoughts accompany him when he’s tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep.

“Why are you looking at me like this, am I that handsome?”, Karam chuckles. “You wish you were”, Abishek shot him a quick reply..

“Nandni from the kitchen would object to that. Anyways I’m not here to stand like this, remember you kicked me on the legs in our session today, it still hurts, Damn you Abhishek and your powerful legs”. Karam chortles like he’s telling a funny joke.

“You shouldn’t have punched me then. It was your idea to have hands-on training, not mine.” Abishek responds to Karam’s joke of the century, good job Karam, he is clapping on the inside.

Abishek takes Karam to his preferred spot, just a vast ground that is not covered by trees or shrubs, just the moon and stars in your sight when you look up.

Both of them sit there and talk about things that they wouldn’t talk normally. It is said about the night, that it leaves you stripped of all the self-put shackles and Abishek and Karam aren’t immune to that. So generally they talked about their fears and the things that are bothering them bad enough to not let them rest.

The more Abishek listens to Karam about this, the more his heart breaks for him. He had also admired the passion and positivity of the little boy and found it adorable how he stuck to Karam like a little duckling. He wanted to sympathize with Karam but seeing him so lost, his words won’t come out. So he hugs him and soon feels his shirt getting wet, both of them remain like this for quite a while with only the sound of broken sobs replacing the silence.

After Karam finally empties his heart, he shrinks back, thinking how unmanly it is to cry, that too in the arms of another man. But he looks up to see glistening eyes staring at him. He is an idiot, he trusts this man with his life, he can’t cry with him? That’s bullshit. A man or a woman’s crying is not their weakness, it’s their strength that they can let out their feelings like this, call Karam a clairvoyant, but he’s sure there would be a time in the future when people are not ridiculed just because they are true with their emotions. 

Thinking about his stupidity, he falls on the ground and starts laughing at himself. To say the least, Abishek is worried about his friend who started laughing right after crying. But before he does anything, he’s pulled by Karam and follows his suit in lying on the ground.

“Why did you do th-“ ,” sssh just look at the stars” Abishek is silenced by a finger to the lips and he looks at the sky.

The stars were indeed beautiful; the flickering balls of fire illuminated the sky like sequins on a never-ending shawl (chunni). Karam is enchanted by them and subconsciously starts to count them; he knows he won’t ever be able to do it but he loses the battle to his curiosity.

Beside him Abishek is busy trying to find patterns in the stars. Since childhood he always had a fascination with the stars, so he used to go to his father’s study and tried to take out the heavy books with his tiny hands. He thought he was stealthy but sadly got caught by his father on his third try. But instead of kicking him out of the study, his father sat him down and taught him about the world of stars.

Abishek jostles Karam slightly when he finds a particularly clear constellation. He points to the constellation and draws it with his fingers “See there, this one is Cygnus, it looks like a swan” 

“I can’t see it”, Karam replies, he just sees stars and that’s it, he doesn’t understand what Abhishek is trying to make him see.

“What do you mean you can’t see; it’s right there. Okay give me your hand, I’ll show you”. Abhishek takes Karam’s hand and goes through each star in the constellation, and maps them with Karam’s finger slowly so he finally sees it. Abishek must admit that he is too excited to share his knowledge with Karam tonight.

They continue on finding more constellations, sometimes making their own. Abishek chuckles when Karam tries to show him a bitten apple constellation, and his voice vibrates through the air making Karam sigh and absentmindedly say,  **“I want to count all the stars with you”.**

Abishek feels the hair at the base of his neck stand up, listening to Karam’s intimate voice speaking in a barely-there whisper. “What do you mean, you can’t actually do that” Abishek manages to respond despite this newfound sensation coursing through his veins.

“Do what?” Karam hesitates, he doesn't know why he said it out loud, but if there’s one thing that he knows, is that he’s sure of his feelings.

“Count all the stars”, Aman smiles.

“You know I didn’t mean that” Karam got the courage when he finally sees Abishek smiling; this man surprises him every time.

“I heard what you meant loud and clear and this is my answer”, Abishek hopes that the romance novels he read were true, and kisses Karam on the lips unsurely. It didn’t help that both of them were lying on the ground so their heads bumped with the kiss. 

Both of them sit up quickly and kiss each other experimentally, it was both of their first kiss; this much was clear due to their tentative touches. They part soon after, their cheeks now adorned with a lovely red. 

Abishek then rests his head on Karam’s shoulder, both of them looking at the stars. They could talk about it, could discuss their future, but thought that the silence and these moments of serene closeness between them is enough to exchange their feelings without using words.


	4. You and Me? We're one.

The years following that have been kind to Karam and Abishek, they’ve been recognized and promoted to the prince’s guards and miraculously are put in the same batch. They’ve fought battles together, came out of them safe and sound, celebrated post-war feasts together and were so tight-knit that their peers would wish they’d have a friendship like them.

But being a royal guard is not all war, they accompanied the prince to meet the nobles, royals of other kingdoms, and went to the towns, meeting the people and visiting the markets during their travels. 

If there were instances that they couldn’t go together, parting from your love wasn’t an easy task. But they gave each other hope with the promise of returning with a souvenir. They celebrated festivals together when they were back with each other and sometimes they lost themselves in each other in moments of happiness, almost getting caught quite a few times but stealthily saving themselves at the end.

The thing with people is, if they don’t know about a thing, they will deem it as bad, and in the times where love between a man and a woman was frowned upon, their love wouldn’t even be recognized, not at all, instead it would actually be despised.

Of course, they knew about it, and how foolish would it be to expect something else from society, not a single soul had an inkling about their days and nights spent loving each other except them. Thinking about it, they didn’t even need people, because for them the other was enough.

Karam still remembers when they went swimming, and to his amusement, Abishek was a flailing duckling in water. Karam prides himself in teaching Abishek how to swim in that blazing summer, and being the quick learner Abishek is, came out of their training like a swift fish. He’s thankful that he trained vigorously because the prize at the end, a sensual kiss from Karam in the lake was totally worth the effort .

Once the prince wanted to visit a temple on the top of a mountain despite it being not recommended to travel there, because of the gangs hiding and the rough pathways there, but the stubborn prince, in all his might, decided that he had to go and take his lover there. Seeing the risk of the journey, the royal court appointed some experienced guards with them, Karam and Abishek being the ones selected in the group too.

“Don’t you think it is way lower than our grade, babysitting a bratty prince and his woman just because his spoiled highness wants to take a vacation in the mountains?” Karam complains to his partner, both in battle and life.

“Don’t say it like that, it’s our responsibility to protect the prince from any kind of danger”, Abishek parrots the talk he had been taught every day since he chose to be here.

“Say what you want, you know that I’m not wrong”, Karam smugly says.

“That you aren’t, but we have no choice but to, as you say, babysit them”, Abishek tiredly replies, they traveled for 5 days to get here, and all he wants to do is fall in deep slumber.

“What happened Abhishek? Why are you looking so down? They want us to be in the main camp tonight, could you get through that?” Karam questions, seeing Abishek so dim doesn’t bode well with him for he has always seen him so bright, like the stars he so loves.

“Yeah I’m okay, who am I even lying to, I don’t want to be here, who even thought sending me to be a guard was a good idea, you see Karam people all around the world are studying about the mysteries, finding all sorts of new things, and I wanted to be like that too, I just-“ The control that Abishek was holding onto broke like a dry twig, letting all his frustration out.

He is interrupted by Karam who motions him, “Come here” and hugs him, feeling the stiff muscles on Abishek’s back and tries to smooth them out with the back of his hands. Abishek closes his eyes and melts into the embrace, God knows he needed that, so many things were just piling upon him and he didn’t have the chance to breathe. Hugging and listening to the beat of Karam’s heart has such a calming effect on him that he goes limp in his lover’s arm.

“It’s okay, we will do this together, when you don’t feel like being inside the camp, we will come outside, okay?” Karam calmly rubs his back.

“Okay”, this was all Abishek could croak out before they went to the camp. Not surprisingly the meeting about choosing the people for night and morning duty. To Abishek’s delight they were selected for the morning duty, well that also meant that they had to be with the prince and heed to his orders, but he was too exhausted to think about tomorrow. Beside him Karam was also trying to stifle his yawn. So when they were permitted to rest, they immediately went to their pre-made tents and slept before their peers could wake them up for anything.

In the morning they accompanied the Prince, his beau, and his beloved horse to the mountain creek, that according to the lore, had healing and purification properties, and it was also said to be something that brought lovers closer. Karam laughed at how bullshit it was like he believed in the unknown, and he can get by the healing and purification, but bringing lovers closer? Sir you gotta rethink your relationship if you need to travel for 5 days to strengthen your love.

Abishek knew for a fact that the prince is going to marry this woman sooner or later, not only for love but also for their social standing as she was the only daughter of a respected noble. It made him wish for something like this too, but for their safety he discarded the thought. 

A few days later the prince decided to go to the temple on the mountain top, and it was not an easy way up there. They had to stay there for at least three days if they decided to go up there, otherwise, the visit would be for naught. There was also this problem they couldn’t make the horses go up the tiny and stony road so they had to hike the way. Hiking in itself was not a problem but the constant complaining from the royal couple was. 

In 5 hours, they finally reached the temple, and it was mesmerizing. The misty clouds made the place ethereal and the flowers and vines growing on the pillars were something out of a fairyland. The temple was colorful and smelt like marigolds and incense, indicating that someone was here recently. According to the hierarchy the royals had the right to pray first, and they took their sweet time, and the guards had to be the next ones.

The next day the prince went to a cave, nearly slipped but was saved by Abishek cause well seeing him fall would be hilarious and Abishek wouldn’t be able to control his laugh. The couple was left in private to do things that couples did until night with the noises echoing through the cave traumatizing the guards.

In the morning when the couple was still asleep, Karam and Abishek had to roam the premises to look for potential threats, and luckily trusted enough to be left on their own devices. Naturally after some time they found it boring, so they went back to the temple to treat their eyes of this place they might never be able to visit again.

The beauty was not just in the place, but if one would look anywhere, they would find high and mighty mountains surrounding them, a perfect place for one to leave the worldly business and settle here.

Abishek has the same thought, what if he and Karam never go back and he voices them. Karam shares his sentiment too because here they would have no one objecting their right to love and live in peace. Sadly both of them knew it was nothing more than a pipe dream. The next thing Abishek says could be accounted for his inner feelings that came out because of the tranquility or he just wanted this for a long time.

“Karam you see, we have been together for 5 years now and time and time again I want the same happiness that people around the world experience, knowing fully that the world won’t accept us, but here today, in this temple, there’s no one but us in the eyes of the Gods, I want to take you as my husband”, Abishek says hesitantly, what if Karam doesn’t feel the same and one day grows tired of him or worse wants to marry a woman. But before his thoughts go too haywire, Karam smiles with tears making his eyes shine and says, “and I too.”

He takes Abishek’s hands in his and faces the deities and starts, “Abishek Mathur, today in front of the Gods, who have always taught us about loving the souls; and souls have no gender, I vow that I will take you as the partner to my life, death and beyond. I would stay by your side and no matter what challenges the world throws at us, we will tackle it together. I am sure of that”.

It was Abishek’s idea but now he can’t utter a word. He gets back to his senses after getting his hand squeezed by Karam and he finally manages to speak, ”Karam Singh Rathore, from the day you asked me to count all the stars to this day, it has always been my wish to make everybody know that you are all mine, we can’t do that but let’s not think about the negatives here. I’m sure that no matter what the circumstances would be, we would have found each other. With the Gods blessing us today in this temple, I would love to be your husband and promise that I will hold this promise to my heart, and misery would befall me if I led myself astray.”

“Don’t say like that”, Karam chides him.

“But I am serious about this”, Abishek retorts. If he were to pen down what he feels for Karam right now, it would be enough to fill hundreds of books.

“Even if you are, don’t say things about misery, it would be ominous to talk about this at our wedding”, Karam speaks, not leaving his husband’s hand even now. 

They soon broke some twigs from trees nearby and lit them on fire to take the customary ‘ **Saat Phere’** \- the seven vows to complete their union. **They are now one, heart and soul**.

In a few years of their newly found paradise as a  _ married couple _ , staying away from one another became tougher, and keeping the façade of friendship was something they really had to care for. In these times many things happened; the king lost a part of the land due to rash behavior, the prince got married had a kid and another one is on their way, Karam got promoted as a high guard because of his service in saving a pregnant princess from fire and now Abishek was on his way to escort the prince to sign a delegation with another King from the south.

As always when one of them had to go separate ways, letting go was difficult. Abishek had to make Karam sleep before leaving and informing him about his leave in a letter kept under Karam’s pillow.

The two kingdoms were going to sign a peace treaty so that both won’t try to wrongly abduct the other’s land or resources. So Abishek was sure that he would come soon. And so was Karam.

The days following went as smoothly as one expects for Karam going on with his life at the palace while also exchanging letters with Abishek, the letters are mostly just an account of their days with a sprinkle of feeling lonely and missing the other. The days of their reunion got closer and all they wanted to do is to just speed it up.

Until Karam gets a letter from Abishek that staggers him. It starts as normal but as he reads it tells him that from what Abishek has heard, this pact was just a ploy to ambush the prince, and the king has been working on their offenses to surround the prince from all sides and kill him.

He also says that their delegation that was sent without any proper arms; is not ready for the war that is hidden in the veneer of this agreement and the safety of the personnel is at risk. They have no choice but to be sitting ducks until the king decides to have his way with them.

Abishek doesn’t let his anxiety and fears steep through the letter, but Karam who knows Abishek more than Abishek does himself, knows how anxious and restless he must be feeling right now. He wants nothing more to go to him and hug him but all he can do is send a letter back and assure him that he will be informing the executives here.

So he does the following morning, but his explanation of the situation falls deaf on their ears. The next day he plans to ask them to assign some other people to join them and volunteer for it and still they wouldn’t listen to his advice. Their stubbornness had prompted Karam Rathore; the same person who has never begged to anyone in his life, to beg them to get him there so he could help with his resources and fight if the time comes.

Seeing his urgency, they told him even if they were sure about the situation; if they were to do so then it would be a direct act of transgression and would be equal to wage a war against them. Karam asked if putting the life of Prince at risk would be worth not doing anything and he received a satisfactory answer, that it is worth sacrificing one to save a thousand, the answer was not the one he wanted to listen to, nonetheless satisfactory. 

Desperation leads to rash decisions, and Karam wasn’t immune to it. He decided to leave the palace at night and join Abishek there, but was soon caught by the guards and was confined with an order to not leave the palace premises for a month. Karam would account that month as a personal hell in his memoir.


	5. Here I am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to two people, karmanisms and CinMan whom I took the inspiration for a bit in this chapter, and you guys know what the part is ;). We are going towards the end so thank you for coming with me on this journey, and as always Happy Reading!!

**Present Day:**

  
It's another day in the amazing life of Kartik, show starring a tired and hung-over Kartik Singh on a sunny Saturday. By brushing his teeth vigorously, he's trying to remove his bad breath; evidence of yesterday. He slowly recollects and smiles, because he went on a date with Aman yesterday, with Aman taking him to his favorite spots in Delhi and who would've thought one of Aman's favorite spots would be a nightclub.

  
What's better for these two broke men on a Friday night than cheap drinks and good music. So completely disregarding the consequences that their actions will befall them next day, they drank and danced all night. 

  
Not that he's regretting it but right now the arduous task for Kartik was to go to the university and work on his thesis that was finally in its ending phase. But Kartik who was impersonating Edward right now and would completely vanish if he takes a step out in the scalding sun. But he has to, because the longer he delays it, the lesser time he would have to go on more dates with Aman, and honestly he can't afford that.

  
So covering himself from head to toe in a maroon hoodie and some loose jeans that he found lying on the chair, and slinging his bag on his shoulder, he gets out of his hostel building to prove he is in fact, human. 

  
He makes his way quickly to the library, mainly to avoid human interaction and reaches there in record time. Normally he is stopped by his friends, seniors, juniors and the simple greeting could turn in a half-hour talk and today he doesn't have the time nor the energy for that. There's also a fact that he doesn't want to be caught being a whole ass mess by anyone he knows. He finally takes a deep breath after being welcomed by the cool air of the air conditioner in the library and goes towards the seating area. He sits down in his usual spot, preferably a corner with a wide table for him to spread his notes and books on, makes himself comfortable with the place in the first fifteen minutes and then takes out his laptop to work.

  
Kartik had already gathered a lot of material but the character study of the deceased was yet to be done. Looking through various journals mainly gives him the idea that Abishek's parents were strict, and they more or less forced him to be a royal guard, for his betterment of course. Kartik muses that no matter what the era is, parents are still the same.

  
The Mathur's were wealthy enough that they took care of nearly the whole family. Abishek's father was the oldest of 6 and having all of them in the same bungalow was a feat that couldn't be accomplished if you weren't filthy rich. Apparently being the oldest cousin made Abishek the favorite of all of the cousins. After going through many articles that just explained his general life, he found the excerpts of one of his cousins; Rajesh Mathur's journal.

  
He wrote about idolizing Abishek because he was the only one he could talk too. He wasn't good at all of that serious business and political talks and preferred the feel of a paintbrush in his hand rather than a sword. And Abishek, that son of a gun, helped him by switching the times and training more until the 11-year-old Abishek fell with exhaustion.

  
But his method worked when Abishek finally talked to his parents about it making his father agree. Since his father's word was absolute law in the house and Rajesh's parents would know better than to object. So after that day Rajesh never held a sword in his hands.

  
Abishek wasn't as perfect as his cousins would rave about him, Rajesh also wrote that the time Abishek was in the Mathur's estate, he was the farthest thing from a soldier, he used the word 'lively' to describe him and from all that Rajesh knew about his big brother, if there would be talk about him in his family, he would want to be reminded as a human, not a glorified martyr.

  
The details of the ambush were a bit murky, the only things that were clear that the prince was attacked by surprise one day, and his guards, like the pawns in a chess game were the first to sacrifice themselves to certain death while the Prince and his ministers hid behind the flesh wall. 

  
One of the two people who had to devise a quick plan and lead the rest was unsurprisingly Abishek, with countless victories under his belt he decided before he was even asked to. The other man, Vansh took control of gathering the limited supplies since they were unable to go out and ask for more. The King played dirty, confining them, and not giving them enough time to prepare for a steady defense.

  
And in two days, the guards now turned soldiers succeeded in escorting the prince to safety while fighting for their lives and losing them consequently. It was an ugly battle; neither of the two armies came out of unscathed despite the home army having more advantage which resulted in their unfair victory.

  
Vansh came back with no left arm and only 5 guards, and in a few years the king who oh so kindly invited the prince was waged a war against, and Karam beheaded the general who orchestrated the attack. It is not a pretty ending by any side, after many years the spoiled prince turned into a ruthless ruler, nipping any rebellion in the bud, and ensuring the safety of the kingdom for the following years all while broadening their region.

  
So in the long run, the event was crucial to bring about a change in the stationary kingdom, so that it could find a place in the history books. But if you were to ask the common people about it, whose kids have constantly been sent to the battlefield, peace in all its way or form is better than constant war.

  
Kartik didn't think he would go from Abishek's life to the war, and he doesn't quite remember when he did or when he wrote the key points down. He unlocks his phone only to find that 4 hours have passed since he came and Aman messaged him. His foggy mind did a backflip because Aman messaged him asking where he was.

  
He replied Aman only to be informed that Aman is here too. Not longer than a minute, He sees Aman making his way towards him and the small smile on Aman's face makes him forget the world. Aman sits beside him and instead of a normal hello asks, "Why are you crying?" 

  
"What? Was I crying?", Kartik touches his face to find new tears there and wonders why was he crying and laughs, it could totally be his fatigue acting up because right now he is both hungry and tired. "It's nothing, I mean after what happened yesterday, seeing you so calm is more suspicious than me crying." He laughs.

  
"Oh, that, mummy made me drink some bitter ass hangover cure, and here I am, but you look, how do I say it-" Aman hesitates.

  
"Say it", Kartik quips. At the same time his stomach starts to rumble, the nausea from this morning now replaced by an urge to feed.

  
"Okay, my Edward, let's get something in you, you didn't eat anything since morning, did you?" Aman questions, despite knowing the answer.

  
"I didn't feel like it", Kartik chuckles, hopefully, Aman won't go on a lecture about how healthy food is important, both for his brain and body. But Kartik is too comfortable with cafeteria meals and maggi to actually remember the last time he ate something homemade.

  
Instead Aman takes him to the library café and orders 2 sandwiches and lattes. "You won't be tired or hungry after this, and next time you don't feel like eating, just shoot me a text, got it?" Aman looks into Kartik's eyes, clearly not wanting no for an answer. When Kartik doesn't answer him, he asks again, "Got it?" this time enunciating each word.

  
"Yes, yes, of course, Your wish is my command", Kartik smiles while surrendering to his fate, in this 4 months of dating this man, Kartik has learned that when Aman is serious about things related to him, saying no is never an option. To think about it, this is the type of thing you would hear from an old married couple, and Kartik can proudly say he has ticked the couple part; 1/3, not a bad score, just needs improvement.

  
Both of them continue to talk while eating their sandwiches; and as predicted Kartik had to get another one to sate the hungry machine. They also sip on their sweetened latte, which surely has enough sugar to keep them energized for two days. After finishing their drinks they go out only to find it raining. Both of them didn't carry an umbrella with them and seeing that it was just drizzling, they decided to go inside one of the departments.

  
But as they walk, slowly because they want to savor the weather, it started raining heavily. Now the weather is not that lovely anymore when they had to run to get shelter. This doesn't stop them from laughing and making fun of each other soaked selves, it seems that rain brings their childhood innocence out. Laughing while running might seem idiotic to umbrella holders, but they are having so much fun to care about anyone's opinion.

  
They finally find shelter in the closest parking lot and look at each other's elated faces. Looking at the pure happiness on Kartik's face, Aman is overcome by the urge to be close to Kartik, and after confirming that they are alone, kisses Kartik. Kartik is taken aback initially but responds quickly by taking Aman's head in his hand and kissing him feverishly. Kissing was already a 10/10 experience but kissing while listening to the pitter-patter of rain and the sporadically blowing gusts of wind cooling their warmed up body.

  
Completely ignoring the time, or the fact that they were in public, they kiss like there's no tomorrow, and honestly, you don't really find a better thing than what they've got here right now. Too busy in their own world, they don't notice another presence beside them

  
"Are you guys done?", Shankar Tripathi asks.That prompts these two love birds to separate from each other, and the look on their faces was film worthy.

  
"Papa, you?", Aman manages to utter despite his embarrassment. If you know Aman Tripathi, you would know he would never call Shankar 'papa' in school grounds, and that is what made Shankar want to chuckle at his son's state, but he had to uphold his status as a professor so he spoke, "What were you two doing here, this place still comes under the university, parking lot or not.", he raised an eye in question.

  
"Sorry papa, it won't happen next time.", knowing that they've been caught red-handed, Aman has no choice but to reply meekly.

  
"Papa?", Shankar feels a headache coming the more he tries with his son and the other guy? Shankar feels as if he has seen him a lot but can't put a name to this face.

  
"Yes, oh, I- Sir, sorry Sir, we were at fault, I promise it won't happen again." and Aman supplies with what he thinks is a good enough apology for them to pass through.

  
Kartik is dumbfounded, on the other hand, the famed strict professor just caught them kissing and instead of pulling them by the collars to the Dean, he's just waiting for their explanation. From what Kartik has heard, he thought Professor Shankar would be totally homophobic, and for the first time he is happy that he was wrong.

"Normally I will never let you guys go without at least a small visit to your HOD's, but since classes are over for quite a while, I'll let this one slide, but next time be careful, I or any other professor won't be this lenient, understood?" , Shankar questions.

"Okay Sir", the boys speak in unison

"Woke up? Do you know what were we talking about?", Shankar muses, he has yet to have his fun and this poor boy has fallen into the trap.

"Yes Sir, you guys were-," "Oi Aman, help" Kartik nudges Aman and whispers.

  
Unfortunately nothing ever goes unheard by Shankar's ears, so he stops Kartik there and instead asks him to introduce himself. After his introduction, Shankar smiles at Aman and says before getting in his car, "Bring him home someday, okay?", and Aman instantly gets the meaning by his father's smile, his family knows that he likes guys, and are more than okay with that, but what is a father who doesn't intimidate their child's partner, Aman thinks it comes with being a father, and since being a single child, he had to go through it every time he dated someone in the past years.

  
After Shankar leaves, Kartik looks Aman straight in the eye, "Did I hear it correctly? Aman did he actually invite me to your home?"

  
"Don't be so happy bubba, he's gonna make sure you don't come back again, so think again alright?", Aman calms him down. Kartik doesn't know that a full-on circus is awaiting him at the Tripathi's.

  
"Whatever happens, we'll see. Anything for love", Kartik beams at his boyfriend.

Aman laughs, "Anything for love? When you actually meet my family, don't come to me asking for help."

  
"I won't, how bad can they be, I've dated one of them and I'm alive until now, so generally I can tackle all of them, no problemo", Kartik confidently says.

  
"You-, I'll tell you how alive you'll be after I'm done with you", Aman glares.

  
Hearing the threat in Aman's voice, Kartik runs for his small life while Aman chases him through the university grounds.


End file.
